Russian President Putin is very reserved when questions about his private life emerge and is notorious for his inner circle to be kept secret. The Kremlin and Miss Tikhonova, therefore, did not respond to requests for comment.

The first person to ever admit that Miss Tikhonova was Putin's daughter, was Mr Andrey Akimov, the deputy chairman of the board of directors at Russian lender Gazprombank.

He at first told Reuters in 2015 that the girl was indeed Putin's daughter but later denied the statement. After the report, Gazprombank said in an official statement that Mr Akimov was "surprised and bewildered" at the question and had therefore spoken in error.

Putin has fought hard to keep his two daughters, Maria and Katerina, away from the public eye.

Mr Mohab commented on the sidelines of the World Cup Rock‘n‘Roll European Championship which is being held in Moscow, Russia.

He confirmed that Miss Tikhonova’s ‘personal connection to the president’ was quite helpful to the association: “Yes, of course. We have an expansion project which is working on all continents and in a lot of countries. And this is all going out from Russia.”